Formation Activities and Catholic Seminarians: A Practical Theological Study of their Impact on Subsequent Perseverance in Ministry

by Rev. Alfredo I. Hernández

This table helps to point out the activities with the highest positive and negative effects on each aspect of formation. The blocks shaded in green show positive Net Impact Scores (the darker green, the more positive the score) while the blocks shaded in red show negative Net Impact Scores (the darker red, the more negative the score). IPF has the highest total Net Impact Score, 43, while the pastoral-year internship experience and a propaedeutic or spirituality year experience are in second and third place, with total Net Impact Score of 31 and 28, respectively. The only programs with a negative Net Impact Score are CPE and language immersion programs, with CPE having a much higher negative net impact, –37. To see how this grid was put together, get your copy of this book today!

TESTIMONIALS

“A must-read for all involved in seminary formation. Its engaging writing style, grounding in theology of priesthood and research literature, and suggestive conclusions are enough to commend this to a very wide readership. Its astute engagement of practical theology marks it as exceptional. I highly recommend this work.” – Bryan T. Froehle, Professor of Practical Theology, Director of the Ph.D. Program in Practical Theology, St. Thomas University, Miami

“We certainly all desire good and holy priests who will persevere through the joys and trials of life. This book sheds light on the various programs that seminaries use to assist in the formation of future priests in order to do all that can be done to ensure a joyful, fruitful, and lasting ministry. As a former rector of a major seminary, and now a bishop, I have found this book to be of great value. Fr. Hernández asks important questions, provides some important answers, offers recommendations for formation today, and opens doors for future research.” +David L. Toups, Bishop of the Diocese of Beaumont, Former Rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach

“Fr. Hernández’s highly-valued systematic research is immensely important and timely as it supplies Bishops, Vocation Directors, Rectors, Seminary Formators and all of the lay faithful especially interested in seminary formation with new practical wisdom. The positive and negative impact of a wide variety of seminary programs are creatively analyzed and clear recommendations emerge regarding what programs actually produce ministerial joy and fruitfulness in the lives of future priests.” – Fr. John Horn, S.J., Faculty at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary, Co-Founder of the Institute for Priestly Formation and the Seminary Formation Council

“In higher education in the last decade, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on outcomes-based education. This focus could not be more critical than in the area of priestly formation, where the purpose of formation is specifically to prepare seminarians for lifelong ministry. Yet, almost no studies have been done or data collected on the impact of seminary programs on lifelong formation and ministerial practice. Once ordained, the priest is ontologically changed and hence always a priest, yet how has formation prepared seminarians in a way that they can be joyful and effective priests and be prepared to persevere throughout their whole lives in living out this change? How is the soil for the grace of ordination best prepared? Fr. Hernández’s research makes an important initial foray into this area of research. His findings provide food for thought for seminary formators and administrators, and they will catalyze conversation about the contributions made by a wide range of seminary formation programs. And, even more importantly, this study has unflinchingly asked the questions and kicked-off a direction of inquiry that could help shape effective formation in the years to come.” – S. Mary Krysiak Bittár, Director of the Office of Research and Institutional Effectiveness and Assistant Professor, St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Rev. Alfredo I. Hernández is President-Rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida, where he has served as Vice-Rector, Academic dean and a member of the formation faculty from 1997 to 1999 and from 2013 to the present.

Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Palm Beach in 1992, he served 14 years as Pastor of St. Juliana Parish in West Palm Beach, from 1999 to 2013, and a year as the director of permanent diaconate formation from 2015 to 2016.

He earned an STL in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a PhD in Pastoral Studies from North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

OTHER PRACTICAL THEOLOGY BOOKS

Posttraumatic Abortion-Related Stress in Psychiatric Outpatients: Comparisons among Abortion-Distressed, Abortion-Non-Distressed, and No-Abortion Groups

by David C. Hanley, Rachel L. Anderson, David B. Larson, Harry L. Piersma, D. Stephen King, Roger C. Sider

Figure 1 in support of the Appendix entitled “Methodological Considerations in Empirical Research on Abortion.” (Anderson, Hanley, Larson, Sider) in  Post-Abortion Syndrome: Its Wider Ramifications ed. by Peter Doherty (Four Courts Press, 1995). Included with permission.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR’S WIFE, MARY HANLEY

Posttraumatic Abortion-Related Stress in Psychiatric Outpatients, †Hanley, Anderson, †Larson, †Piersma, †King, and Sider is also known as the Pine Rest Study.

The late David C. Hanley, MSW, BCD, noticed that women he was treating for trauma after an abortion had the same symptoms as a Vietnam veteran whom he was treating for PTSD on an inpatient ward at Pine Rest Christian Hospital, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Hanley treated the women for PTSD. They all got better. He initiated the clinical research which used standardized tests considered to be state of the art at the time. The study was conducted by clinicians and researchers on both sides of the abortion issue. 

The first article was presented to the American Psychological Association, New York, 1995. The article in the appendix, “Methodological Considerations of Empirical Research on Abortion,” Anderson, †Hanley, †Larson, and Sider was published as a book chapter in Post-Abortion Syndrome: Its Wide Ramifications ed. by Peter Doherty, Four Courts Press, Dublin, Ireland, 1995. 

I published the Pine Rest Study and related article because Pine Rest colleagues and women helped by this study came to Mr. Hanley’s wake in 2018. He had not seen most of them in over twenty years. The women said they continue to help other women deal with their abortion. I obtained permission to publish from all authors or their living spouses and Four Courts Press.

The book took third place honors in the “Life and Dignity of a Human Person” in the 2021 Catholic Media Book Awards.

Sincerely,

Mrs. David C. Hanley

TESTIMONIALS

“In today’s world where abortion rights advocates advance their services as health care, this 25-year-old study by David C. Hanley and others prophetically exposes abortion as the exact opposite.” — Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, Africa LIFE Runners Coordinator

“I almost dropped to the floor when I opened the package you sent me a few days ago! What a pleasant surprise! Let me start by thanking you from the bottom of my heart for thinking of me and sending David’s research book. I will treasure it as long as I live because it reminds me so much of the clinical work that David, Steve King, and I did together on the Pine Rest Adult Services team.  What a gift you and others have given! You have greatly honored the work that David did to research the literature and administer the protocols on what really happens with women who have undergone elective abortions! I wish we could still sit down together as we did in our team meetings and discuss what our clients were teaching us (!) as we tried to listen and serve them with the compassion of our Savior.  We as students of the mind and emotions are also learning so much in the years since we worked at Pine Rest. The issues of attachment and bonding are so much more prominent now, not only between mother and child but also between husband and wife, friend and friend, teacher and student, and, of course, therapist and client. We are also learning so much more about how the brain reacts to traumatic experiences. We are learning that trauma is just as strong when a relationship is broken or threatened as when physical pain is administered. Advances in brain scanning (fMRI) procedures have documented and confirmed this. I hope there will be more research done, perhaps spurred by David’s work on the attachment of wounds created in pregnant mothers when they are even contemplating an abortion. Well done! —To all who participated in getting this research published!” – Kenneth J. Ellis, PhD, Licensed Psychologist

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

At the time of the writing in 1995:

David C. Hanley, MSW, was a Senior Clinical Social Worker at Pine Rest Christian Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Trained at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, he has specialized in treatment of women stressed by their abortions and has served as principal investigator of a clinical research study of post-abortion stress conducted at Pine Rest Christian Hospital. 

Rachel L. Anderson was a doctoral student in the Human Development and Social Policy Program at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Her research focus was on women’s health, including completion of a systematic review of the medical, psychological and social effects of induced abortion on women, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

David B. Larson, MD, MSPH, was Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center, Northwestern University Medical School and the United States Uniformed Health Services. A former research psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he then became President of the National Institute of Healthcare Research. Dr. Larson helped to develop the systematic review methodology and specialized in the public policy implication of religious commitment. He had over 160 professional publications in such policy areas as mental health diagnoses and services, the use of nursing homes, and AIDS/HIV infection. 

Harry L. Piersma worked most of his career at Pine Rest Christian Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and later retired from the W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina. 

D. Stephen King, MD, was a Staff Psychiatrist Pine Rest Christian Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Roger C. Sider, MD, was a Medical Director of the Pine Rest Christian Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and professor of Human Medicine at Michigan State University. Trained at the University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins Hospital, he has published numerous articles and book chapters on psychiatric ethics and had a life-long interest in clinical care, clinical administration, and the interface of psychiatry and religion. 

OTHER ACADEMIC BOOKS

Jesus’ Ministry of Liberation: A Companion after the Year of Mercy

Fr. Aaron Agorsor

(With a Foreword written by Rev. Fr. Dr. Michael Kodzo Mensah)

TESTIMONIALS

“Fr. Aaron Agorsor has a tremendous and practical way of unpacking the Gospel and growing the spiritual life. His lively writing [and speaking] style is particularly effective with new Christians. This book is a must read.” — Very Rev. Fr. Rob Clements, Director, All Saints Catholic NEWMAN Centre, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

“Please don’t simply read this book but breathe it in deeply, absorb it, and put it into action! Ours is a world that seems to be increasingly divided, contentious, leery of “the other,” and more often than not filled with fear and discouragement. Is there any reason for hope? Fr. Agorsor reminds us that the Gospel offers to this question a resounding, “Yes!” Hope is found in the faithful, extraordinary love and mercy of the God who not only made all that is, but who out of His unfathomable love became flesh to rescue His creation from the powers of sin, division and death. In these rich reflections, Fr. Agorsor pleads with those who have been rescued to go and rescue others with the same love and mercy that we have so graciously received from God.” — Fr. John Riccardo, Executive Director, ACTS XXIX, www.actsxxix.org

“What is mercy?  For many contemporary Christians, mercy is a very thin concept, connected perhaps to ideas of God lowering his standards or indulging our selfishness.  But as Fr. Agorsor shows in this book, Biblical mercy is an endlessly rich concept and reality: in a sense, it is the very Gospel itself.  Quoting generously from the Word of God, the successors of Peter, and contemporary Christian writers, Fr. Agorsor explores all the dimensions of divine mercy from the theoretical to the practical, showing how the practice of mercy can be life-transforming for the disciple of Christ. A rich treatment of an unfathomable topic!” — Dr. John Bergsma, Professor of Theology at Franciscan University, in Steubenville, Ohio

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rev. Fr. Aaron Agbeshie Agorsor is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Ghana, West Africa. He is currently a Ph.D. student of English Literature at the Arizona State University.

As a Graduate Assistant, he teaches First Year Writing or composition and assists at ASU affiliated All Saints Catholic Newman Centre where he ministers to students from diverse backgrounds.

Aaron is passionate about his ministry as a priest. His experience  of God’s tremendous mercy overwhelms him and he wishes to let the whole world know that God’s mercy endures forever. He is also the author of Mary’s Magnificat: A Perfect Model of Faith Expression.

OTHER POPULAR SPIRITUALITY BOOKS

Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put That Phone Down

by Sister Marysia Weber, RSM

INTERVIEWS

Relevant Radio – The Drew Mariani Show: intro & discussion with Sister begins at 42:25, ends 53:31: https://relevantradio.com/2019/10/uncommitted-sex/

TESTIMONIALS

“Some of us used to be day-dreamers, which was quite harmless unless we lost contact with reality. Nowadays most of us have become day-YouTubers – also quite harmless until you lose contact with people around you. It can become a serious addiction, a screen-addiction. That’s what Sister Marysia Weber writes about in this terrific book. Being a certified psychiatrist, she knows what she is talking about. Not only is the book extremely informative, but also very practical by giving us powerful tools to help ourselves, our kids, our teenagers, and our young adults. It’s a goldmine.” – Dr. Gerard M. Verschuuren, Human Geneticist

“Sister Marysia Weber, R.S.M., has produced in her book Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put That Phone Down a useful explanation for why we’re increasingly engaging our social media devices and practical solutions for how to end our addictive behavior for our personal health and social well-being.” – Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, founder of the Catholic Distance Learning Network

Council of Major Superior of Women Religious presents…

The New Media and Religious Life: How an Awareness of the Benefits and Risks of Electronic Media Assists and Hinders the Consecrated Religious in Communicating the Love of Jesus Christ

featuring
Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, D.O., and Sister Mary Prudence Allen, RSM, Ph.D.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, DO, MA is a Religious Sister of Mercy of Alma, MI who is a physician, board certified in psychiatry with a fellowship in consultation-liaison psychiatry, who trained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  She also holds a Master’s degree in Theology from Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana.  She practiced psychiatry at her religious institute’s multidisciplinary medical clinic, Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Alma, MI from 1988-2014. She became the Director of the Office of Consecrated Life for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis in 2014. She is a facilitator for Rachel’s Vineyard, is chair of the board of directors of MyCatholicDoctor, an executive board member of the Saint Louis Guild Catholic Medical Association and the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology. She also serves as Adjunct Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Sister Marysia offers workshops on a variety of topics including human attachment, boundaries and character development, depression and anxiety, dialogue and conflict resolution, as well as on social media and its effects on the brain for clergy, seminarians, women’s and men’s religious communities, parents, teachers and students. She is a formator within her own religious community. She presents on Internet pornography addiction—a Catholic approach to treatment to bishops, clergy, seminarians, religious communities, and laity throughout the United States and Europe She presented to the U.S. Bishops in Dallas TX in 1992 on “Pedophilia and Other Addictions”.  She was a member of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse in 1994-1995.  Sister Marysia has presented to the Curia, Vatican City State on “Sexual Abuse of Minors by Clergy in North America” in 2002.  She has served as a psychological expert consultant for the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, USCCB.

Sister Marysia’s publications include “Medical Aspects of Addiction”;  “The Roman Catholic Church and the Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests and Religious in the United States and Canada: What Have We Learned? Where Are We Going?”; “Pornography, Electronic Media and Priestly Formation”;  Her publications in Seminary Journal include: “Significant Markers of Human Maturation Applied to the Selection and Formation of Seminarians”; “The Discernment of a Priestly Vocation and the Expertise of Psychiatry and Psychology”; and “Internet Pornography and Priestly Formation: Medium and Content Collide With the Human Brain”.  She has published two books: The Art of Accompaniment: Practical Steps for the Seminary Formator and Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put that Phone Down. She also has two chapters in Spiritual Husbands-Spiritual Fathers: Priestly Formation for the 21st Century entitled “Chapter 9: Markers of Human Maturation in Seminary Formation: Becoming a Gift for Others” and “Ch. 15: Guideposts for the Seminary Formator in Understanding and Assessing Levels of Preoccupation with Use of Internet Pornography and a Formative Process for Moving from Vice to Virtue.”

OTHER PRACTICAL THEOLOGY BOOKS

Spiritual Direction: Principles and Praxis

by Fr. Dominic Anaeto

Paperback: $14.95 | Kindle: $9.99

TESTIMONIALS

“As a Lay Dominican, I thought I was intimately familiar with both sides of the spiritual direction process, but Fr. Dominic’s work in this area has provided me with tools I didn’t know I needed and a desire to engage others and be more engaging myself in a way I didn’t know was possible.” – Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, OP, Lay Dominican of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Chapter in the Province of St. Albert the Great

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fr. Dominic Ugoo Anaeto is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Nnewi in Nigeria. He holds a License in Spirituality from Gregorian University in Rome, a Doctorate in Pastoral Theology from the Lateran University also in Rome, and a diploma from the Christian Institute for the Study of Human Sexuality at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois. He is a certified counselor on topics related to Human Development and Human Sexuality. He has served as the Director of the Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies program at Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, CT, and as Director of Pastoral Formation at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston, TX.

OTHER ACADEMIC BOOKS

The Art of Accompaniment: Practical Steps for the Seminary Formator (2nd Edition)

by Sister Marysia Weber, RSM

TEMPLATES

TESTIMONIALS

“Over the last four years, our seminary has been incorporating the content of Sister Marysia Weber’s book, The Art of Accompaniment, into our one-on-one formation meetings, seminary conferences, spiritual direction, peer reviews, and annual evaluations. Her second edition supports the deeper integration of the benchmarks found in the new Program of Priestly Formation, 6th edition, and gives practical insights and examples to guide discussions between our seminarians and their formators. Our formation program has particularly benefited from using her assessment benchmark template which provides a greater observational clarity of a seminarian’s formational growth and a tool of gradualism for the movement from self-awareness to self-knowledge, to self-possession, to self-gift. This new edition is accompanying our seminary as we review our formation program and implement the new PPF.” – Rev. Andrew Turner, Coordinator of Pastoral Formation for Saint Mary Seminary, Cleveland, Ohio

“As the new Ratio Fundamentalis from Rome invites us to deepen the integration of each seminarian through accompaniment in formation, Sr. Marysia Weber, RSM, brings to bear in this work her years of experience in helping priests and seminarians grow in affective maturity necessary for ministry. This little book offers very helpful insights and practical recommendations to assist seminary formators as they work one-on-one with seminarians in developing the necessary relationship of trust for their growth. Formators will learn from her how to create and take advantage of formative moments in seminary life so that the human and affective flourishing of the man can lead to a flourishing of his divine vocation.” – Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

“Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, DO, articulates clear, relevant ways for the priest formator to accompany seminarians in their formation to the ministerial priesthood. Proposing contemporary assessment questions, this book helps the formation advisor both evaluate and assist the seminarian in his growth in affective maturity. I recommend this compact book particularly because of its practicality, reflection of the Church’s program of formation, and usefulness in identifying opportunities for interior growth for seminarians.” – Fr. Christopher Cooke, Director, Spiritual Year of Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia.

“An invaluable resource that every seminary formator should have at his or her side.” – Fr. Dennis Billy, CSSr, author of Finding Our Way to God: Spiritual Direction and the Moral Life

“My colleague and friend, Sister Marysia Weber, RSM, has made an invaluable contribution to the work of priestly formation in her book, The Art of Accompaniment. Throughout the work, her skills as a psychiatrist are evident. Even more evident is her love and honor of the priestly vocation. The concept of accompaniment is key to every insight in the text. There simply is no longer a ‘one size fits all’ approach to priestly formation. Sister Marysia demonstrates both from science and theology varied and concrete ways in which more experienced priests can be both challenging and loving companions on a young man’s journey to ordination and a life of service to the Church. Her chapter on ‘Markers of Human Maturation’ is especially helpful because it presents clear and evidence based ways of helping a candidate recognize individual strengths while not fearing to tackle frailties that could compromise his future life and ministry in the priesthood. The chapter on communication skills is most compelling because it helps formators know how to phrase insights in ways that are acceptable to candidates. Sister Marysia clearly grasps the truth of the old adage, ‘I don’t say what I say; I say what you hear.’ The clearest and most objective evaluation I can give to The Art of Accompaniment is to say that I wish I had this book at hand when I began my own work in priestly formation decades ago. It is a significant and contemporary help in forming candidates for the priesthood after the mind of Christ, possessed of self-knowledge, and ready to serve the Church in our challenging times.” – Rev. Msgr. Thomas G. Caserta (Former Director of Spiritual Formation, Cathedral Seminary Residence, in the Diocese of Brooklyn and Pastor, St. Bernadette Church, Brooklyn, NY)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sister Marysia is a Religious Sister of Mercy of Alma, MI who is a physician, board certified in psychiatry with a fellowship in consultation-liaison psychiatry, who trained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  She also holds a Master’s degree in Theology from Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana.  She practiced psychiatry at her religious institute’s multidisciplinary medical clinic, Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Alma, MI from 1988-2014. She became the Director of the Office of Consecrated Life for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis in 2014. She is a facilitator for Rachel’s Vineyard, is chair of the board of directors of MyCatholicDoctor, an executive board member of the Saint Louis Guild Catholic Medical Association and the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology. She also serves as Adjunct Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Sister Marysia offers workshops on a variety of topics including human attachment, boundaries and character development, depression and anxiety, dialogue and conflict resolution, as well as on social media and its effects on the brain for clergy, seminarians, women’s and men’s religious communities, parents, teachers and students. She is a formator within her own religious community. She presents on Internet pornography addiction—a Catholic approach to treatment to bishops, clergy, seminarians, religious communities, and laity throughout the United States and Europe She presented to the U.S. Bishops in Dallas TX in 1992 on “Pedophilia and Other Addictions”.  She was a member of the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse in 1994-1995.  Sister Marysia has presented to the Curia, Vatican City State on “Sexual Abuse of Minors by Clergy in North America” in 2002.  She has served as a psychological expert consultant for the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, USCCB.

Sister Marysia’s publications include “Medical Aspects of Addiction”;  “The Roman Catholic Church and the Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests and Religious in the United States and Canada: What Have We Learned? Where Are We Going?”; “Pornography, Electronic Media and Priestly Formation”;  Her publications in Seminary Journal include: “Significant Markers of Human Maturation Applied to the Selection and Formation of Seminarians”; “The Discernment of a Priestly Vocation and the Expertise of Psychiatry and Psychology”; and “Internet Pornography and Priestly Formation: Medium and Content Collide With the Human Brain”.  She has published two books: The Art of Accompaniment: Practical Steps for the Seminary Formator  (http://sst.hgs.mybluehost.me/artofaccompaniment/) and Screen Addiction: Why You Can’t Put that Phone Down  (http://sst.hgs.mybluehost.me/screenaddiction/). She also has two chapters in Spiritual Husband-Spiritual Fathers: Priestly Formation for the 21st Century entitled “Chapter 9: Markers of Human Maturation in Seminary Formation: Becoming a Gift for Others” and “Ch. 15: Guideposts for the Seminary Formator in Understanding and Assessing Levels of Preoccupation with Use of Internet Pornography and a Formative Process for Moving from Vice to Virtue.”  

OTHER ACADEMIC BOOKS